So far in 2016, Scarecrow has added a whopping 2,663 new titles to our catalog. From now until the end of the year, we’re trying to raise $10,000 to help us continue to grow our one-of-a-kind collection in 2017. What’s more, during that period our board of directors has generously pledged a 150% match for each and every contribution! That means that every dollar you give turns into $2.50! Show your love for your favorite non-profit and donate to Scarecrow RIGHT HERE!

When I first heard about The Hateful Eight, it was being canceled. With the script partially leaked, Quentin Tarantino decided to pull the plug on it and do something else. The cast was supposed to include Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, and Kurt Russell. The Old West was involved. Naturally, I laid down on the carpet and wept for a few months, until he changed his mind and decided to make the film anyway. For this, I’m eternally thankful, especially since he just announced his plans to retire a few weeks ago. Sure, he’s promised two more films first, but it’s just another indication that 2016 is the Year From Hell. Read More

Scarecrow Video’s December Crosscut theme is “Winter Wonderland,” and the Swedish black comedy/relationship drama Force Majeure fits that theme perfectly. Set at the upscale Les Arcs, Savoie resort in the French Alps, you can feel the cold snow buffeting a seemingly picture-perfect family as a marital crisis unfolds during their ski holiday. Imagine Ingmar Bergman doing a black comedy set at a ski resort and you will be in tune with Force Majeure. You do not need to be a skier to appreciate the film. Indeed, Force Majeure won the Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated in 2015 for the Golden Globes Best Foreign Film award. Read More

They utterly blow. Frigid temperatures. Short days. Gray skies. Cranky people on the bus coughing and passing their lovely flu germs onto you. What’s not to love? But, hey, it could be worse. You could be spending it snowbound in an empty hotel deep in the ass-end of the Colorado Rockies, contending with a freaked-out wife, a kid with the Sixth Sense, and dozens of alcoholic ghosts ready to boogie in the ballroom and want you to join them – badly.

Such is the sad fate of the Torrances, the family in the The Shining, the very popular 1977 Stephen King horror novel. Papa Bear Jack makes the rather stupid decision to isolate himself and his brood for over sixth months in a remote mountain resort so he can earn some extra cash as its winter caretaker and also work on his novel. Because, apparently, absolutely no other job in North America that qualified as sane was available. You don’t have to be a Rhodes Scholar to figure out not all of the Torrances make it to Spring in mint condition. And so the Darwin Principle keeps on proving itself.

The Shining was first adapted for the big screen in 1980 by acclaimed director Stanley Kubrick. One person who definitely wasn’t a fan of that version was King himself. Let’s just say Kubrick wasn’t all too concerned with being faithful to the novel. This particular bee must have been such a colossal pain in King’s bonnet, because he eventually penned and executive-produced a 1997 TV mini-series version (directed by Mick Garris) that was, ahem, much more in line with his book. How did it turn out? Well, for a start, very different from Kubrick’s version. Which one of them is the better horror flick? Ay, papi, this is going to get bloody. Read More

This beautiful damn movie is difficult to think about objectively because itʼs been ingrained in my blood for as long as I can remember. But I know I speak for lots of us when I say The Empire Strikes Back is the perfect sequel. Star Wars is great, yeah. Nobody could dispute that (except maybe a Star Trek fan). I know it took my five-year- old breath away when my dad took me to the 20th anniversary theatrical release.

But Empire is something else entirely. Itʼs a dark, scary hole in the universe in which Star Wars is a shining light. The first movie was a standard space adventure, George Lucasʼ semi-plagiarized version of the old Flash Gordon serials. The second movie is a continuation story-wise but a screeching left turn mood-wise. Who wants to see the same film twice?

Last we saw Luke, Han, and Leia, they had emerged triumphant and blown up the Death Star, and everyone barring Chewie went home with a big shiny medal to boot. 1977 audiences must have felt pretty pleased with themselves.

But to every success is a failure, and every victory has a dark side. By the time Empire rolls around, Luke Skywalker is due for a failure, as George Lucas sure knows. Lucas has read his Joseph Campbell, and Lucas knows that a heroʼs character arc canʼt continue until heʼs faced rock bottom and looked tragedy straight in the face (or mask).

Letʼs break it down — the Hoth battle ends in a close call for the Rebellion. Snow flies, redshirts scream in pain, but our heroes escape, albeit divided. And across the galaxy they go, tempting fate with close call after close call.

I can see George Lucas, donut in hand, hunched over the writing table — “I gave ʻem a Space Adventure, now theyʼre gonna get a faceful of Space Tragedy!” Thatʼs the big reason the film is such a success. The filmmakers knew not to do the same thing a second time. A universe had been created, and we the fans had grown attached to the characters, and now it was time to punch them in the face, repeatedly and unrelentingly. Han is betrayed, frozen, and delivered into enemy hands. Leia is forced to watch while the man she has just realized she loves is whisked away and as her resistance force crumbles around her. Luke gets his hand chopped off, falls down a pit, and learns (spoilers?) that an evil tyrant is his father. Even Wedge suffers a blow to his pride as heʼs relegated once again to the background. C3PO is smashed apart… you get it, thereʼs no end to the good guysʼ suffering. Theyʼre beaten down, betrayed, dismembered, and heartbroken.

But in this beating down we see true people rise out of the screen, more relatable and human than the somewhat one-dimensional characters of the first film. Here lies the biggest triumph of the movie. Luke starts to learn the Force and begins to lose his childish petulance, Han and Leiaʼs bickering glimmers into love, 3PO goes from whiny to very whiny. And Vader, previously not much more than a menacing thug, starts to show his true plans and intentions. We even catch a look at his helmet-less, vulnerable head.

Not all of Empireʼs successes are story-based. The movie looks really good. The visual effects mostly donʼt look dated, which canʼt be said for every 35-year-old movie. When they do look dated, itʼs almost to the movieʼs advantage. Yodaʼs a puppet, made of cloth and stuffing, and about as low-budget an effect as you can get. But this adds a second dimension to his big reveal – not only is this legendary Jedi knight a shriveled little weirdo, this legendary Jedi knight is made of mere felt. It may have been unintentional, but it ends up working despite its technical limitations, much like the sharkʼs reveal in Jaws.

And visually, itʼs got a color palette that mirrors the action of the story. Empire starts off snowy and bright white, the traditional color of lightness, while things are still going OK for the Rebellion. Then the movie literally gets darker as it starts to figuratively get darker. The climax takes place in a black, empty, expansive room augmented by an endless pit. Lukeʼs feeling pretty empty and hopeless at this point, and the setting reflects that wonderfully.

The Empire Strikes Back is full of real people with their dark and light sides on full display. If you havenʼt seen it yet, 1. How 2. Watch the first one first, and 3. Youʼll like what you see. The characters from Star Wars might feel pretty great about their Death Star victory. But theyʼre about to find themselves in the belly of the beast, or, I suppose, the belly of the Exogorth.

Nathaniel Cowper likes movies and music. He also makes movies and music. You can watch his movies at vimeo.com/nathanielcowper and hear his music at arugulaoglethorpe.bandcamp.com.

It’s random and unpredictable how the legacy of a movie plays out. Prior to its December 2004 release, many arts/entertainment editors and studio heads predicted that The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou would further Bill Murray’s career as a dry-humored dramatic actor, following his Oscar-nominated performance in Lost in Translation. Once the film hit the theaters, it garnered mixed reviews from film critics and even some Wes Anderson fans alike, and was not the holiday counter-programming/Oscar contender that the Disney-owned studio had hoped for. Read More

Movie Postmortem is a monthly series that reviews certain films that showed promise but misfired (critically and/or commercially) upon initial release. Join us in our attempt to find out exactly what the hell happened.

The Casualty: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

(NOTE: This postmortem examines the theatrical release, not the so-called “Ultimate Edition” release on Blu-Ray, which restores about 30 minutes of story that makes the flick a tad clearer but ultimately still doesn’t save it.)

The Case History: The concept of Batman and Superman pimp-slapping and bitch-slapping each other through Gotham and Metropolis isn’t exactly new. It’s been around at least since 1986, when the comic-book mini-series The Dark Knight Returns pitted them against each other. However, it wasn’t until 2007, during a brief scene in Will Smith’s I Am Legend remake, that we unexpectedly got a glimmer of what a duel between The Bat and The Muscley Dude In Red Underwear And Blue Tights might look like on the big screen. Read More